Some patrons forget to turn off the ringers or set the ringers to a silent setting on their mobile devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and pagers, when watching a play, a movie, or other public performance. Therefore, the ringers on mobile devices sometimes go off during the performance, which may annoy or distract the other patrons and embarrass the owners of the mobile devices.
Many theaters and other venues make announcements to remind patrons to turn down or turn off the ringers on their mobile devices. However, even with the announcements, it is inevitable that some of the patrons still forget to do so.
It may be possible to install a cell phone blocking device or system that could suppress the operation of all the mobile devices, such that the ringers, including ones set to a silent setting, would not operate and thus would not go off during the performance. Cell phone blocking devices have been used in very limited areas but have been banned in other areas. A concern with such technologies is the inability to filter or screen certain calls or messages to the mobile devices. For example, the use of blocking devices prevents emergency calls from getting though to the intended mobile device; even if the ringer on the mobile device is set in a silent setting, such as vibrate. Therefore, blocking devices may alienate the patrons or even raise potential safety and legal concerns.